Wow! I am amazed daily at the messy terror of my 2 yr old boy, it just never ends!!Just this weekend- I came in from doing paperwork in our attached garage turned office, found him sitting on the counter, cupboard door open, he had poured a bit of oil, rice vinegar, almost a whole jar of cinnamon, a jar of ground cloves, small baggie full of dried basil, not sure what else, on my carpeted kitchen floor! Then this morning, I was out shovelling, shoulda knownbetter than to leave him alone in the house again, I came in to find him sitting on the couch, sugar bowl in hand, cooking spray beside him! I think I learned my lesson, I hope! I'mjust glad we have leather couches, it just wiped off!

Me thinks that taking photos of the aftermath may not be detering further such infractions. The photographic record from your blog would seem to suggest that it has only encourage further pigment pandemonium.

The last picture reminds me of my first Halloween party: I dressed up as a vampire, complete with fake blood around my mouth. Who would have thought it would be so hard to wash out? The next day I still a reddish shadow around my lips - and it was a school day. On second thought, watch out for your eldest children's teenage years: that's when the fake blood will come out. I suggest you keep it under lock and key and administer personally ;-)

Haha! What a fantastic lot of photos. I'm one of six kids and we had a blast growing up. SO much fun being part of a big family. Now I'm a mum to Alexander (9months) and hoping to have lots of kids too. You stories definately do not turn me off - only make me want lots of kids. Thanks for the daily laughs.From Mim in Sydney, Australia

Dawn, everyday you become more of a hero to me. I found your blog when I was about 6 months pregnant. I'm ready to pull my hair out because by the time my 6 week old goes to bed I've hit my 2nd (or 3rd, 4th, or 5th) wind. Hey, it's 4am, why bother sleeping by then?! I'd crawl under my bed & hide if I had pictures like this to share...of course I'm sure I will eventually. And I doubt I'll really crawl under my bed because then I'd feel bad for never cleaning under it.

Any tips for a first time mom who never sleeps & still has to cook dinner at night because her husband is just far too messy for his own good? Or know any way to fit under the bed with all of our crap without having to clean under it? Whichever works best.

Isn't it amazing what kids can do in almost a split second? Before having children, I would have looked at these pictures and thought, "What the heck? Did this mom leave these kids alone for HOURS?!" Now, having 3 of my own (one being the rascaliest child ever born) I look at these and think, "Oh, poor Dawn...I can't imagine living through that day!" Because you KNOW that couldn't have been the ONLY thing they got into that day. That's not a low blow to YOUR kids specifically, just ALL kids in general...once the ice is broken and trouble has been found...WATCH THE HECK OUT!!!

Thanks for the reminder. I have a jar of orange frosting coloring in the cabinet. I need to put it back with the cake decorating supplies.

I know it takes several days for the dye to wear off. I'm not a very good cake decorator. I made an Elmo cake for my son's 2nd birthday. I used so much red dye that whoever ate the cake looked like the joker from Batman. Big, red lips!!! Maybe we should market it as a lip coloring that will last for days!!!

Oh Lordy....I would have just cried. More over the fact that their hands stayed red than anything else, I think. If it happens again, though, I've found that nailpolish remover gets that kind of food coloring off of skin...doubt you'd want to use it over such a large area, though.

Holy mess-makers!! I thought they had on black work gloves and just painted their faces. My friend told me that her mother claimed women (mothers) invented the five o'clock cocktail hour. Now we know why.

My eyes would have popped all the vessels in them if my kids did that. How do you take pictures of them without conveying that it is okay to make messes or did the wrath of mom make it clear that it is not okay? ;-)

Wow. I mean, wow. That has to be that Wilton coloring. Such tiny jars for such big trouble. Is it just the picture, or did they actually wear gloves? And it had to be the black coloring, too! (Hard to get white icing to turn black, not a problem for the bathwater...) Good for you for being able to laugh- even if it is some time later!

They were definitely caught red-handed! So was that Austin and Savannah? Jackson and Lexington?

I'm now planning to corner my husband when he gets home, and persuade him to put the rest of the childproof latches on the cabinets... Yikes! We're trying to sell the house right now and I can't imagine what the poor realtor would say if she showed up with a prospective buyer and saw something like that!

Hi Dawn, Oh My gosh...What a mess! Were there faces red for along time too? Was this in the summer months? It could have looked like a really bad sunburn. Or did the kids have to go to school that way? LOL..Oh and I think I saw that chair at the goodwill store. Kristine in Michigan.

Wow! You must have kept your cool pretty well to have them actually STILL smiling about it in the bathtub. I'm afraid I would have yelled and screamed so much that they would have ALL been in tears! Way to go, SUPERMOM!

I was hyperventilating as I was reading that!! That is my nightmare... I'm afraid I would have had to get rid of my kids if they ever did that. ;) The mess alone would put me over the OCD edge, but the kids... *cringe* the kids would have done me in!

Dawn, you make me believe that I will get through each day with a little grace and maybe a cocktail as well. The first time I had heard your story was when you posted the Pokemon cards on ebay with your hilarious story to go with it. I was peeing in my pants. When I saw it I just had my second set of twins (I have five children ages 4 and under with 2 sets of twins only 13 months apart) and I wasn't sure if I was going to survive the beginning of this journey. But it's 7 months later and I am still surviving and I feel real solace in knowing that you have days very similar to my own. So thank you so making me laugh and realize it's much better to laugh about the crazy stuff that happens rather than stress over it. P.S. I agree with you on the baby wipes. They are great for EVERYTHING!

Thank you for sharing this. . . .I have five children of my own and I LOVE stories like these, especially the ones that I have never encountered to make me thankful for what LITTLE my kids actually do! I had a glitter mess once. . .that's not a pretty site (in my eyes anyway!).

Well.... at least it wasn't poo poo. I left my then almost one year old in his crib long enough for me to take a shower. That was when he became Poo Poo Picasso. All over the crib, wall, and he even painted himself with it. That was the nastiest mess I ever had to clean up. Love the foot and hand prints Dawn!! LOL!!!!

I can only imagine how fun that was! It was a tradition for each one of my children to have a 3D panda bear cake for their first birthday - the black frosting, yeah fun! Now my daughter is going to do it for her son next month. I told her to put him in trash clothes as she'll never get the blak frosting out of them.